In this April 15, 2020, file photo, two people walk past a closed sign at a retail store in Chicago. Ever since the U.S. government launched its emergency lending program for small businesses on April 3, there have been complaints that bigger companies had their loans approved and disbursed more quickly. There is now evidence to back up those complaints. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
As the debate over the 'Phase 4' coronavirus stimulus package ratchets up, two distinct approaches to the economic recovery are revealing themselves.
House Democrats' $3 trillion HEROES Act, which passed in May, offers greater financial support for state governments, a higher unemployment insurance supplement, and eviction protections for renters. Senate Republicans' $1 trillion HEALS Act, which was introduced Monday night, is focused more on offering tax credits and loans to businesses hurt by the pandemic.
One of the more controversial measures of the HEALS Act, which Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has said he will not negotiate on, provides companies liability protections against potential lawsuits from employees who contract coronavirus while on the job — though this does not include cases of gross negligence.
The HEROES Act does not include these protections, instead directing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to issue safety guidelines for employers.
The HEALS Act would provide $190 billion in funds for first-time and second draw loans from the Paycheck Protection Program, but it would restrict the second draw to firms with fewer than 300 employees that have lost at least 50 percent of their revenues in the first and second quarter.
The total loan amount would also drop from $10 million to $2 million, or 2.5 times a company's total monthly payroll costs. Loans would be forgivable if at least 60 percent goes to payroll.
The Democrats' bill would remove this threshold altogether, allowing companies to use the money however they pleased and still be eligible for loan forgiveness.
The Republican legislation also authorizes the Small Business Administration to provide up to $100 billion in low-cost loans to businesses in low-income census tracts that have fewer than 500 employees and have lost at least 50 percent of their revenue since the outbreak started.
The bill would raise the cap on the employee retention tax credit, expand the work opportunity tax credit to new groups including those left unemployed by COVID-19, and create a new payroll tax credit worth up to $1,000 for each of the first 500 employees for expenses related to employee protection, including personal protective equipment, testing, and cleaning supplies.
House Democrats targeted frontline workers directly, with $200 billion set aside for essential workers such as grocery clerks, childcare workers, nurses, and doctors. This includes a $13-an-hour pay raise for those who make under $200,000 until they receive an extra $10,000.
What measures survive the negotiation process is anyone's guess, but Democrats and Republicans alike have taken turns denigrating the others' proposals.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has set a deadline of August 7 to pass a bill.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
William Falcon, CEO and Founder of Lightning AI, discusses the ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and how everyday people can use AI in their lives.
U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum “will not go unanswered,” European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Tuesday, adding that they will trigger toug
The Trump administration has ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stop nearly all its work, effectively shutting down the agency that was created to protect consumers after the 2008 financial crisis and subprime mortgage-lending scandal. Russell Vought is the newly installed director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought directed the CFPB in a Saturday night email to stop work on proposed rules, to suspend the effective dates on any rules that were finalized but not yet effective, and to stop investigative work and not begin any new investigations. The agency has been a target of conservatives since President Barack Obama created it following the 2007-2008 financial crisis.
